Episode #267: The Woman Who Lived

"People like us, we go on too long. We forget what matters. The last thing we need is each other."

Episode #267:      The Woman Who Lived.

Companions:        The 12th Doctor.

Air Date:             24th October 2015.

Adventuring on his own for a while, the Doctor seeks out an artefact of great power that could spell disaster in the wrong hands: the Eyes of Hades. However, he soon comes face to face with consequences of one of his past acts of compassion, when he meets an immortal he created, who has now lost all hope with a heart filled with centuries of pain.

The Woman Who Lived is a follow up to the previous adventure, The Girl Who Died. The Doctor while travelling without Clara ends up in 1651 and encounters Ashildr again. The general plot of the episode isn't all that great and doesn't really go anywhere worthwhile. However, you aren't watching for the obvious plot story. Instead, The Woman Who Lived is about the darker side of being immortal. Ashildr has grown from an imaginative young girl into a woman who has seen loved ones grow old and die, and has fallen into the grey where she has lived too many lifetimes and has lost some of her humanity. This is what makes the episode in my opinion.

For such a darker episode there is slightly too much humour involved in the attempt to lighten in somewhat. Modern jokes, puns, and gallows humour (literally) cause a loss of immersion for me. I know I keep saying it through these episode reviews but it's a problem with modern Doctor Who. Coming from the Doctor, such quips are fitting and appropriate. It's one of the personality quirks that we like from the character. But when you have characters from the 17th century making such jokes it pulls the immersion out of it's historical placement. 

The Woman Who lived isn't a great episode by any means but it isn't a bad one either. It has it's flaws but generally it works compared to many of the current episode formats. It continues the set up of where the character of Ashildr goes and I like the change to her character and the idea that she has always been there in the background of the Doctor's adventures on Earth and maybe elsewhere. That itself gets a thumbs up from me if the story isn't totally engaging.

Episode #266 : The Girl Who Died

"Immortality isn't living forever, that's not what it feels like. Immortality is everyone else dying. She might meet someone she can't bear to lose. That happens… I believe."

Episode #266:      The Girl Who Died.

Companions:        The 12th Doctor and Clara Oswald.

Air Date:             17th October 2015.

After an adventure and a half in space, the Doctor and Clara are kidnapped by 9th-century Vikings. However, to make matters worse, hostile aliens have also arrived in the vikings' village; they are provoked into declaring war on the village by a stubborn girl. By the end of the adventure, the Doctor will learn where it was that he saw his own face before, and the reason why he chose it.

The Girl Who Died is a nice if average type story. It certainly has it's cool moments but it largely falls into the usual fare of modern Who. I like the story though. We have a historical story, to an extent, with the inclusion of a war like race of aliens pretending to be Odin. one of the Norse gods. Their reasons for why they attack are a bit odd but it's more of a throw away excuse just to bring about some conflict. It has it's silly moments though... speaking baby, for example. For that I give it an average rating.

The villains of the piece, the Mire, are another warlike race of aliens, who attack weaker civilisations presumably because they know they can win. Makes you wonder why so many species in the universe are so hostile really. They are a throw away classic type of Doctor Who villain but they do the job in this story although they are hardly hide behind the sofa type scary. 

There are a two things that make this an enjoyable episode. One is the character of Ashildr, played by Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams. She is the centre point for the story and a handful yet to come. One of a couple plots arching through this series. The second is some of the dialogue given to our heroes. As I have said in previous episode reviews for the modern show, with a good writer and story, some of the inner workings of the Doctor's character come out with the real feels. There is a nice edge of seat insight to this now very ancient Time Lord that we never/rarely saw in the classic days of the show. 

One such element takes us back to the 12th Doctor's first adventure where he tries to remember where he got his current face from - obviously that of the Roman Lobus Caecilius from The Fires of Pompeii. It is nice to have that throw back and the reminder that he took that face for a reason. We know the Doctor is a hero, a dark hero sometimes, but moments like this remind us that despite the deaths and destruction that follow in his wake, the Doctor does good even when he's a grumpy old man.

Ultimately though this is a story that exists to set up the following episode and the Ashildr storyline to come over this season. It's good but it's average for what I expect from the modern show.

Episode #252: Deep Breath

"I'm the Doctor. I've lived for over two thousand years, and not all of them were good. I've made many mistakes, and it's about time I did something about that. Clara, I'm not your boyfriend."

Episode #252:      Deep Breath.
Companions:        The 12th Doctor and Clara Oswald.
Air Date:              23rd August 2014.

Shortly after his regeneration, the Twelfth Doctor arrives in Victorian London, and Clara Oswald struggles to embrace the new man the Doctor has become. All the while, they reunite with the Paternoster Gang to investigate a series of combustions that have been occurring all around the city.

And so begins the 12th Doctor's era on the show and what a great start it is. Deep Breath is a bit of a rather odd story though. Since the end of The Time of the Doctor, somehow he and Clara ended up back in the Mesozoic, swallowed by a dinosaur (and that is enormously incorrect in it's size) and somehow time travels with it to the Victorian era where robots are stealing body parts. By Doctor Who standards it's probably just another Saturday.

The Doctor's new persona is quite similar to that of the 1st Doctor, in that he is rather a grumpy grandfatherly figure. A bit rude perhaps but also funny. I had wondered whether this was intentional as this is a brand new reset of regenerations. I don;t know whether that was the case but it seems to fit the new personality.

The new element of this story is that the robot body part thieves aren't just a random villain for a one off post-regeneration story. They are in fact connected to a previous story The Girl in the Fireplace. You may remember that one as the story where the 10th Doctor, Rose and Micky fought time travelling robots using body parts to fix their ship. While not from the SS Madame de Pompadour, they are from the sister ship SS Marie Antoinette. It's a nice tie in to a previous story.

Part of the story that doesn't really work for me is Clara at the beginning of the episode. In her recent adventures she has had to deal with the concept and actuality of Time Lord regeneration and yet she seems to not understand it now where the Doctor is concerned. The writers try to make this seem about her being in love with the 13th Doctor and wanting him back over an old man, but it doesn't come off that way to me at all. It takes a final moment of the episode to reconcile this which it does to an extent.

The adventure is a good one. It has adventure, action, excitement, humour and a slight bit of horror. It has some great dialogue too, from Clara's logic about torture to the final unanswered confrontation between the Doctor and the half-faced robot. Even the phone call from the 11th Doctor is a good emotional ride. Eventually it ends with a bizarre twist involving a mysterious woman named Missy in some sort of "afterlife". An interesting set up for later in the series.

A great start to the new series and a new Doctor.

Episode #247 : The Name of the Doctor

"You didn't listen, did you? You lot never do. That's the problem. The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered. He wasn't talking about my secret. No, no, no, that's not what's been found. He was talking about my grave. Trenzalore is where I'm buried."

Episode #247:      The Name of the Doctor.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor and Clara Oswald.
Air Date:              18th May 2013.

A prophecy is coming true. The Eleventh Doctor is summoned to Trenzalore where it was said he would fall. But what does the alleged site of his final battle have to do with the mystery of Clara — or is it Oswin — Oswald? Can the Paternoster Gang help him avoid his apparent destiny? And most of all...Doctor who?

What a fantastic ending to this season of the show. We get a host of the Doctor's friends together, the return of the Great Intelligence, the final revelation of what and were Trenzalore is and at last the resolution to the impossible girl story line.

It is difficult to explain how good this story is because it isn't any one thing. It's the emotion, the perfectly written scenes and dialogue and the awe moments when everything starts to come together. I have said it before and I'm repeating it now, when Stephen Moffat really puts his mind to it we get some phenomenal episodes. The Name of the Doctor has it all whether you are a modern fan or a classic one. The brief flashes of the old incarnations really gives me the giddy feelings watching this one.

But who is the mysterious Doctor not spoken about? And what a coup getting esteemed (now late) actor John Hurt in for that role is just a masterstroke. That all gets explained soon enough as well. You have to remember that this was leading up to the 50th anniversary episode and we're in for a wild ride.

Anyway, getting away from the excitement, the final set up for the overarching plot this season brings us finally to Trenzalore. This planet was mentioned by the headless Dorium during his "doctor who?" prophecy at the end of A Good Man Goes to War. The Great Intelligence has planned all this to get his revenge on the Doctor for thwarting his schemes. His plan being to enter the Doctor's time stream and cause his adventures to fail although this will destroy him. Clara realizes that the "impossible girl" is her existing in all the Doctor's time lines helping him out and stopping the Great Intelligence. Quite clever really although it does in my mind cause a few little paradoxes not to mention that this future for the Doctor and Trenzalore will never come about.

The Name of the Doctor is a great ending to the story arc and is a nice stepping stone to what comes next.

Episode #245 : The Crimson Horror

"Them new manufacturers can do horrible things to a person. Horrible. I've pickled things in here that'd fair turn your hair snowy as top of Buckden Pike."

Episode #245:      The Crimson Horror.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor and Clara Oswald.
Air Date:              4th May 2013.

In 1893, the Eleventh Doctor's old friends, Vastra, Jenny Flint and Strax find an optogram of the Doctor on a victim of the mysterious "crimson horror". They head for Yorkshire, where Jenny infiltrates Mrs Winifred Gillyflower's community of Sweetville to find what has happened to him.

A good old Victorian gothic horror. The Paternosta Gang investigate a strange series of murders in Yorkshire which leave red-skinned bodies floating in the canal. The Doctor and Clara have got their first but both need rescuing before the villain of the piece can be stopped. It's nice to see the old Victorian gang getting some centre stage again but half way through it becomes the Doctor and Clara show once again.

For it's nice gothic storytelling it isn't a great episode mainly because it jumps around a bit in the middle explaining what happened to the Doctor and Clara before the episode even starts but also because once it does get going the ending feels all too rushed just to get to a rather unsatisfying climax. The Crimson Horror is one of those stories that if fleshed out a bit could have done better by being a two part story rather than being crammed into 45 minutes.

The actual villain of the story isn't very inspiring either being an old lady with a prehistoric leech stuck to her. Both are defeated way too easily and the story just ends. Even the leech, while creepy crawling across the floor, just seems a weak adversary.

There is a continuation to the Clara mystery but it doesn't go anywhere as the Doctor refuses to inform his Victorian friends about what is going on, leaving them just as much in the dark as the rest of us were at the time.

I really do like Clara has a companion. For a time I would have said that Amy Pond was my favourite modern companion but I have come to appreciate Clara more. She is a good strong female role model who knows her own mind and isn't just on screen to be a screamer. She is part of the story, leading from the front with the Doctor. That she isn't living on the TARDIS and has her own life away from time travel feels better than the later Pond stories where they lived at home. I think Clara has, at this point, become my favourite Doctor Who companion.

It is with her that the story ends on a lead in to the next adventure with the children she looks after finding some rather random photos online of Clara during her recent adventures. Some of them I'm not sure how they could have been taken but that doesn't spoil it.

Episode #239 : The Snowmen

"I said I'd feed you. I didn't say who to."

Episode #239:      The Angels Snowmen.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor.
Air Date:               25th December 2012.

After losing Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the Eleventh Doctor has retired to Victorian England, where Strax, Jenny Flint, and Vastra assist him. The Doctor eventually meets Clara Oswald, and takes a liking to the young barmaid who leads a double life as a governess. At the same time, a sinister plot is unfolding; snowmen are randomly appearing around London, growing in size and power. All they need to take over the world is some human DNA in ice crystal form, and the frozen body of a drowned governess can give them just that.

The 2012 Christmas special and while set at Christmas it isn't written around the holiday period specifically which for me is very nice. Using Victorian Christmas is a bit cliché but it works well for this story. Probably wouldn't work as well without it.

Once again we see a Clara look-a-like. How is this connected to Oswin from Asylum of the Daleks? Well, that is for the future and we'll get there soon enough. It was a very clever introduction and sets up our next companion and her story arc nicely.

As for the Doctor he has had time away following the loss of the Ponds. We have a change of outfit to something more Victorian/Edwardian and he's a bit depressive until a new adventure takes a hold of him. I rather like the new outfit style over the more modern one that he has had during his time with the Ponds.

Our villain is an old classic, The Great Intelligence, last seen during the days of the 2nd Doctor in 1968. It wasn't a great villain back then and it isn't very good now but as a classic era fan it is great to see another connection to the halcyon days of the show. It is rather different to that original form but the end of the episode gives us another connection and explains why the original Great Intelligence uses the London underground for it's schemes in those original stories.

The adventure itself isn't all that unfortunately. It is another very typical modern story that might have worked better had it been a multi-part adventure akin to the good old days. As it is, it feels to me as though too much is pushed together, it is rushed, and it doesn't have enough time in an hour to do it all justice. But it is an entertaining story and one which in hindsight sets up a lot of what is to come for the 11th Doctor.

Episode #236 : A Town Called Mercy

"Why would I be curious? It's a mysterious space cowboy assassin. Curious? Of course I'm not curious."

Episode #236:      A Town Called Mercy.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams.
Air Date:               15th September 2012.

Missing Mexico by 200 miles, the Eleventh Doctor ends up in Mercy, Nevada, where something's not quite right... The locals are hostile to strangers, and a border of stone and wood surrounds the town. As the Doctor soon finds out, a gunslinger is behind this, and not just an ordinary one.

First dinosaurs on a spaceship and now a return to the Wild West with a killer cyborg. A couple of great time travel troupes. This adventure is the first trip to the wild west since the 1st Doctor paid a visit to the OK Corral in The Gunfighters. Thankfully this adventure does not feature a long repetitive ballad being sung throughout.

It really is nice to have a western style tale again and the show does it just about right. They use fairly cliché story ideas, corny but fitting western music but they do it nicely within the confines of the show so you are drawn in. It is also about right for a 45 minute slot on a Saturday night where as a lot of the new adventures feel that they would have been so much better if they were two or more episodes in length. I really do miss that from the classic era.

What is also a nice touch is that in reality the story doesn't feature an actual villain. Jex isn't really guilty of a crime per sey (not in my eyes anyway) as he was a healer, just one who took extreme action to end a violent confrontation on his world. Upon arriving at Mercy he puts his skills to use for the betterment of the town. There is no hint of malice in him at all. Likewise, the "Gunslinger" doesn't hurt innocents and is only doing what he feels is right, punishing those who did these horrific cybernetic experiments to him and others like him. Although he seems honourable, you have to wonder whether he isn't actually the closest to a bad guy we have here.

Where this story really shines though is pointing out again, that the Doctor when bereft of companions to keep him grounded becomes quite a dark character. He's been travelling alone lately between adventures with the Ponds and it is beginning to have a mark. We saw it with his callous killing of Soloman in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and we almost see something similar here. Prior to Colin Baker's 6th Doctor we never really saw anything like that, but subsequent Doctors have definitely added a darker undercurrent to the character which fits him very well without going too far.

Episode #233: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe

Madge: Are you the new caretaker?
The Doctor: Usually called "The Doctor." Or "The Caretaker." Or "Get off this planet." Though, strictly speaking, that probably isn't a name.

Episode #233:      The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor.
Air Date:               25th December 2011.

Christmas Eve, 1938. Madge Arwell comes to the aid of an injured Spaceman Angel, the Eleventh Doctor, who promises to repay her kindness – all she has to do is make a wish. Three years later, Madge escapes war-torn London with her two children for a dilapidated house in Dorset. Crippled with grief at the news her husband has been lost over the English Channel, she wishes to give her children the best Christmas ever. The Arwells are greeted by the Doctor, who acts as their madcap caretaker. However, a mysterious Christmas gift from him leads them into a wintry, magical world. Madge must learn how to be braver than she ever thought possible... and that wishes can come true.

Another Christmas special and a better one than recent years. Although set at Christmas the season of good will is not the centre piece of the story which immediately boosts it for me. But saying that the episode features a nice amount of Christmas spirit which does raise a little smile even now watching well past Christmas itself.

The episode itself does not tie into any of the continuing plots and is nicely self contained. The only reference to the previous show is the future setting of Androzani Major. The foresters are from that system but it isn't clear whether the story takes place there or not. If it does, it doesn't resemble anything from 5th Doctor story The Caves of Androzani.

Like previous Christmas stories, this one seems based on a piece of literary work. In this case, as I am sure you can tell by the name, it is The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Thankfully there isn't too much of a correlation between the two. Other than a play on the name, it is only the strange "magical" box which takes them from the old country manor in 1938 to an alien forested winter planet in the distant future.

While the build up is slow and there isn't an actual villain to the story, what I enjoy most about this is the emotional aspect that builds up in the second half. First off by building on the love of a mother for her children, and then the revelation of her husbands death and finally the union of the family on Christmas morning... even I had a lump in my throat watching it. Whether I had that the first couple times I watched this I don't recall but it hit me this time.

The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe is a good story but it does suffer from both slow pacing and a lack of any real story. It just starts, flows along and then ends. Not to mention, once again, that is a little too fairytale for me. I suppose that is fine from the point of view of a basic Christmas episode for the family but it isn't what I would like to see from a special episode like this. Still, enjoyable.

Episode #223: The Curse of the Black Spot

"Okay, groovy. So you're just not pirates today — we've managed to bag us a ship with a demon popping in. Very efficient. I mean, if something's going to kill you, it's nice that it drops you a note to remind you."

Episode #223:      The Curse of the Black Spot.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor, Amy Pond, and Rory Williams.
Air Date:              7th May 2011.

The TARDIS is marooned on board a 17th century pirate ship whose crew is being attacked by a mysterious and beautiful sea creature. Becalmed and beset by cabin fever, the pirates have numerous superstitious explanations for the Siren’s appearance. The Eleventh Doctor has other ideas, but as his theories are disproved and every plan of escape is thwarted, he must work to win the trust of the implacable Captain Henry Avery and uncover the truth behind the pirates’ supernatural fears — and he must work quickly, for some of his friends have already fallen under the Siren's spell.

This adventure returns us to the old style historical story with a science fiction twist. It is quite cool to have a story set on an old sailing vessel rather than some historical manor house or the like, and the idea of the siren fits nicely. Unfortunately it is one of those stories where the first half, set on the ship, works really well but the second half falls a bit flat. The reveal isn't great though. I think that the final twist to the plot could have had more impact.

The main real historical character is captain Henry Avery, a captain who vanished mysteriously in 1696. He is also referenced in the 1st Doctor adventure The Smugglers. The writer of this episode didn't know of that reference and only used Avery because of his historical disappearance.

We have another appearance of the mysterious eye patch lady who seems to be watching Amy Pond. There is also a mystery that Amy is and isn't pregnant at the same time.

I am giving this episode an average 3 rating because while I don't find it the most interesting adventure, it is another example of what I expect from the modern show.

SJA #23 : Lost in Time

"The tapestry of time is a fragile thing. Apply the slightest pressure, and the threads of history can unravel. But you understand that, don't you, Sarah Jane?"

Episode #23:        Lost in Time.
Companions:        Sarah Jane Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer.
Air Date:              8th to 9th November 2010.

A harmless investigation turns into an epic quest across time and space. Sarah Jane and the gang are separated by the enigmatic Shopkeeper to find themselves in three different time-zones throughout history – doing battle against ghost hunters, Nazis, Tudors and a mysterious parrot called Captain!

Along comes another Sarah Jane Adventures episode that I thoroughly enjoyed. Recruited my a mysterious shopkeeper and his parent, the adventurers are split up and sent into different time zones to recover pieces of a temporal artifact, the chronosteel. Clyde arrives during the second world war, and helps thwart a Nazi invasion. Rani finds herself in service to Lady Jane Gray in her last hours and Sarah Jane helps a 19th century ghost hunter save the lives of two children in the 21st century.

I like this story because it brings home the time traveling historical stories of the early days of Doctor Who. Although I wasn't a fan of them the modern stories can be done so much better even in just a brief hours worth of television. In particular the life and death of Lady Jane Gray, an historical figure I had never heard of prior to watching this episode when televised. Having watched it, I was moved to read up on the actual events.

As for the mysterious shopkeeper we never learn who he or his parrot companion are but according to The Brilliant Book 2012, and a blog post from Neil Gaiman, Gaiman and Russell T Davies were both of the personal opinion that the Shopkeeper was in fact the Corsair, a swashbuckling Time Lord friend of the Doctor's mentioned in the television story The Doctor's Wife.

I do like this particular adventure a lot and it shows what the show could do when the writers put their minds to it. More like this would have been preferable to the overly basic children's stories.

Episode #219 : The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

"The universe is big, it's vast and complicated, and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles. And that's the theory. Nine hundred years, never seen one yet, but this would do me."

Episode #219:      The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams.
Air Date:              19th to 26th June 2010.

A Van Gogh painting ferried across thousands of years offering a terrifying prophecy, a message on the oldest cliff-face in the universe and a love that lasts a thousand years: in 102 AD England, Romans receive a surprise visit from Cleopatra. Nearby, Stonehenge hides a legendary prison-box. As it slowly unlocks from the inside, terrible forces gather in the heavens. The fates are closing around the TARDIS. The Pandorica, which contains the most dangerous threat in the Universe, is opening. Only one thing is certain: "The Pandorica will open... Silence will fall".

The season ends with a fantastic culmination. We learn that everything we have experienced since the start of this season has been orchestrated by an alien coalition who fear the Doctor and blame him for the destruction of the universe. The full explanation won't become apparent for some time though. This two parter is a complete edge of your seat type entertainment with surprises and enough cool moments to be hugely memorable.

We have the unexpected return of Rory William although at this stage as a plastic Auton facsimile of a Roman soldier. He somehow manages to retain his personality even as the other Auton's revert to their "evil" selves. Rory always struck me as a bit of an odd character but has grown on me as his time on the show went along. Strange how that happens.

The first half of the story focuses on the Doctor's discovery and investigation of Stonehenge and the Pandorica. Once entrapped and the universe changes we have our companions struggling in a shrinking universe to reset things, hence the title The Big Bang. Now is this new big bang the thing that alters history to erase events such as the giant Cyber King?

The end of the adventure is rather cool as well. The Doctor slides back along his own timeline through his adventures with Amy before he ceases to exist, and we see certain scenes from previous stories this season which now make more sense. A well written and ingenuous plot element. The final scene of Amy and Rory's wedding where Amy restores the Doctor's existence sends a chill up my spin.

All in all a fantastic piece of Doctor Who in the modern era.

Episode #214 : Vampires of Venice

"Tell me the whole plan! ... One day that'll work...  Listen, I would love to stay here. This whole thing... I'm thrilled! Oh, this is Christmas!"

Episode #214:      Vampires of Venice.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams.
Air Date:              8th May 2010.

The Eleventh Doctor takes Amy and Rory, soon to be married, on a romantic trip to Venice, 1580 to make Amy focus on her relationship with her fiancé. However, things there aren't quite what they seem. Warnings of the plague are spreading about despite having died out years before, and pale, creepy girls who don't like sunlight are lurking around. Could it have something to do with the school run by the mysterious Rosanna Calvierri?

Vampires of Venice is a story that feels very much like the classic stories of old. I could imagine Tom Baker running around Venice investigating and hunting these alien vampires. As it is this isn't a bad story for the 11th Doctor. It fits what I expect from modern Doctor Who in both style and appearance, although some elements are a bit silly.

Rory joins the TRADIS crew as the Doctor tried to curtail Amy's amorous advances. Rory is a sort of anti-companion as he doesn't take to time travel the same way as everyone else. He's very unadventurous and it is a nice character trait. In this story he raises some good points that aren't normally covered and that we ignore when watching.

"You know what's dangerous about you? It's not that you make people take risks, it's that you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don't want to let you down. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around."

That is a great quote and so very very true when you think about it. Companions always trust the Doctor and assume that he knows what he is doing and go that extra mile. We see it all the time and we just go along with it. A good example of script writing. We never saw anything like this in the old days and it is good to have an insight into our hero.

The vampires themselves are a little bit of a let down but only because with modern BBC special effects I feel they could have looked a lot better than just strange alien fish with big teeth. The premise behind them and their plans ties into the crack in the universe plot, complete with reference to "silence". I'd have preferred something closer to the Great Vampires myself but then the more classic references the better in my opinion.

Vampires of Venice is a fun story but it is the character interaction and Rory's reveal of who the Doctor is is what makes the episode.

Episode #196 - Fires of Pompeii

"Even the word 'doctor' is false. Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord... of Time."

Episode #196:         Fires of Pompeii.
Companions:           10th Doctor and Donna Noble.
Air Date:                 12th April 2008.

The Tenth Doctor tries taking Donna Noble to ancient Rome for her first trip in the TARDIS, but seems to have miscalculated. Instead of seven hills, they find a single mountain billowing smoke — Vesuvius. They're in Pompeii, 23 August 79 AD: the day before "Volcano Day". However, something else is horribly wrong. The Soothsayers' predictions seem to always be correct... so why can't they see tomorrow's disastrous events, the eruption of Vesuvius, the death of their city? What is blocking their perception, and will the TARDIS team be able to walk away from a fixed point in time, saving no one from certain doom? Well, Donna has something to say about that!

Fires of Pompeii is an excellent example of a time travel television show and a good example of what Doctor Who can do. Here the time travelers travel back to ancient Pompeii and have some just fantastic dialogue and interaction between the Doctor and Donna that hearkens back to the 1st Doctor and Barbara in The Aztecs. The Doctor being the Time Lord knows that the events here are fixed in time and cannot be changed but Donna just sees the human side of things, concerned for the people of Pompeii. It really makes the episode.

The monsters in this story, the Pyroviles are some of the best animated creatures that the show has had I feel. Shame that the same level isn't applied to everything the BBC animate in the show. These are giant rock men type aliens with magma interiors.

The episode features two actors who will go on to feature strongly in the show. Karen Gillen who would become companion Amy Pond, and Peter Capaldi who will become the 12th Doctor.

Episode #185 : Daleks in Manhatten / Evolution of the Daleks

"Daleks are bad enough at any time, but right now they're vulnerable, and that makes them more dangerous than ever."

Episode #185:  Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks.
Companions:   The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:          21st to 28th April 2007.

During the building of the Empire State Building in 1930s New York, the Cult of Skaro continues their attempts to destroy humanity and reign supreme.

In this story the Doctor takes Martha to visit New York in the 1930s and finds that the Cult of Skaro having escaped from the Battle of Canary Wharf have travelled back in time to save their race. In this instance by combining human and Dalek DNA, an experiment that serves to split the surviving Daleks.

This is a story that I am never sure whether I actually like it or not. It reminds me a little of the early classic stories that featured historical situations as a learning experience. In this case Hooverville and the great depression. Add that to the Daleks and the typical Doctor Who troupes and you have a good episode. However it still follows the strange elements that haunt modern Who that don't really fit. In this case it is the pig workers primarily. They just don't feel like they belong. Once again it is an element that feels a bit too weird for me. Even so it is an entertaining story.

One of the complaints that started to appear around this time was that the Daleks were appearing too often in the show. The 4th Doctor only encountered them twice in seven years for instance. In the modern show however we need a major recurring villain and it brings the show in line with modern television formats. It is also nice to have a continuing storyline for them as well which continues through the rest of the series.

Episode #183: The Shakespeare Code

 

Martha: So, magic and stuff. That's a surprise. It's all a little bit Harry Potter.

The Doctor: Harry Potter. Wait 'til you read Book Seven. Oh, I cried.

Episode #183: The Shakespeare Code.
Companions:   The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:         7th April 2007.

As a reward for her help in the last episode, Martha Jones gets a trip in the TARDIS. The Tenth Doctor takes her to 1599 England. After viewing a performance of Shakespeare's latest play, the time travellers are beset by apparent sorcery. Under threat of annihilation from a species from the Dark Times, the TARDIS team have to establish whether there is a connection between a witch they've met and Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Won — a play that was legendarily lost to time.

The Shakespeare Code is a typical Doctor Who adventure where the time travellers drop into historical events and become embroiled in the schemes of an extraterrestrial nature. Normally I would see this as a good adventure but as seems to be standard in the 10th Doctor stories the writers start messing about with things and it spoils the episode. In this case everything is fine until Shakespeare himself starts talking in an all too modern style. While it can be interpreted as being the effect of the villainous Carrionites I find it just a little too out of place and it spoils the entire thing for me.

One adventure in and Martha Jones has become infatuated with the Doctor. Why the writers and producers feel the need to do this especially after the perceived negativity from of the Doctor/Rose love story I don't know. At least in this case the Doctor doesn't reciprocate and seems to not be aware that Martha has fallen for him.

The Carrionites are the villains of the piece, ancient enemies of the Time Lords cast out into another reality prisoned for all eternity. Their powers manifest in the real universe as what we would consider magic. They make quite a cool villain for a one off episode.

At the end of the episode we get a short scene that sets up events not to be revealed for a few years. As the Doctor and Martha enter the TARDIS, Queen Elizabeth appears, spies the Doctor and orders her guards "off with his head!"

Episode #181 : The Runaway Bride

Donna: Oi! No stupid Martian is gonna stop me from getting married. To hell with you!

The Doctor: I'm... I'm not... I'm not - I'm not from Mars.

Episode 181:   The Runaway Bride.
Companions:   10th Doctor and Donna Noble.
Air Date:         25th December 2006.

Killer Santas, exploding baubles, an alien spaceship shaped like a giant star — Christmas with the Tenth Doctor is anything but a silent night.

The Runaway Bride was the second Christmas special for the revamped show. Thankfully the Christmas elements are toned down and other than some robot Santas's you don't really notice. Unfortunately as the Christmas specials go on I find it jarring somewhat that they are all set on Christmas day. So much for time travel.

Anyway, this episode sees the arrival of Donna Noble who, a couple seasons from now, will make a return as a regular companion for the Doctor. Donna is played by well known comedienne Catherine Tate. Other than one or two of her "characters" I don't find her very funny and I remember thinking that when she was announced as a the companion for the episode. I was pleasantly surprised that she fitted in well even with a somewhat dim and obnoxious personality. Donna does make a nice change to the regular type of female companion.

The villains of the story are an extinct race of spider-centaur beings called the Racnoss who were wiped out by the Time Lords in the early days of the universe. The effects for the Empress of the Racnoss are top notch. Unfortunately I doubt we will see them again now.

Three things are brought to light in this story. One is the first mention of Gallifrey in the modern incarnation of the show and the second is the Doctor's growing darkness. Donna tells him near the end that he needs to find someone to keep him in check. The Doctor has lost many companions over the years and you can see that it may weight heavy on his shoulders but the growing concept of the "lonely god" is pushed too hard in this instance. A part of modern television styles I guess. Lastely when the Racnoss ship appears over London the military have orders to destroy it from "Mr Saxon". Who could that be? We'll find out all too soon.

All in all the plot isn't bad and it is an enjoyable story. It is typical of modern Who though in the silliness elements that creep in. I don't mean the cool personality quirks of the Doctor as they have always been there but there are elements dropped into the episode that just make me roll my eyes at times as I am sure I have mentioned before.

There is one plot issue that is left open for me and that is the robot Santas's. Were they the same ones as from the prior Christmas and if so, were they nothing to do with the Sycorax last time but working for the Racnoss?

Episode #174 : The Girl in the Fireplace

The Doctor: Don't worry Reinette, it's just a nightmare. Everyone has nightmares; even big scary monsters from under the bed have nightmares, don't you, monster?

Reinette: What do monsters have nightmares about?

The Doctor: Me! Ha!

Episode 174:   The Girl in the Fireplace.
Companions:   10th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         6th May 2006.

For their first trip with Mickey, the Tenth Doctor and Rose end up on a space ship in the future that contains several portals to pre-Revolutionary France. When he steps through one of these portals, shaped like a fireplace, the Doctor discovers the even greater mystery of actual, romantic love.

The Girl in the Fireplace is a story that I find a little surreal. It features clockwork robots wearing 18th century clothing, a space ship repaired with human body parts and an underlying sense of just oddness. It doesn't feel quite right for some reason. However, it is an entertaining story.

One thing that doesn't quite work is the Doctor. We are supposed to believe that he has strong feelings for Rose and yet falls in love with Madame de Pompadour to the point of being willing to be stuck in the 18th century with her. Feels out of character. Then there is the question of when did he develop this level of telepathy that he can put his hands on a person's head and read their minds?

The overall concepts of the story work and I can forgive the few oddities because it is Steven Moffet. It looks good, there is just the right sort of interaction between the time travellers and the angst of having to explain things to someone who probably can't quite grasp the concept of time travel. Otherwise there isn't much to this adventure and it is simply typical of the direction for the new show.

Episode #172 : Tooth and Claw

Rose Tyler: I wanted to say [imitating Queen Victoria] "we are not amused". Bet you five quid I can make her say it.

The Doctor: Well if I gambled on that, it'd be an abuse of my privilege as a traveller in time.

Rose Tyler: Ten quid?

The Doctor: Done.

Episode 172:   Tooth and Claw.
Companions:   10th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:          22nd April 2006.

The Tenth Doctor and Rose have to protect Queen Victoria, but can anything stop the Empire of the Wolf?

In the past Doctor Who has covered a number of "supernatural" villains from ghosts, a composite creature/Frankenstein's monster and vampires, but with this story we get the Whoniverse treatment on Werewolves. The plot deals with an alien entity that for reasons never explained transforms a host body into a wolf-like creature when subjected to moonlight. Legends of this creature came to the attention of Queen Victoria's husband who puts a plan into operation to destroy the creature but dies before it can be implemented.

Tooth and Claw is one of those modern stories that really has both a lot going for it but also seems to be lacking something that I can't quite put my finger on. I think it comes down to the issue that there is no real reason why this entity would seek to infect the royal family and transform the British Empire into some weird steampunk space travelling civilisation. There is no sense that the entity wants to go anywhere. There is also the issue of the strange Scottish martial artists who serve the entity. That isn't explained either and is very out of place.

The story sets up the start of the Torchwood Institute, named after the hose at which the events of this adventure take place. Queen Victoria sets up Torchwood to investigate the strange and paranormal, and where necessary defeat them.

This story is worth a watch just for the werewolf element. It's more science fiction than horror however, but still very well done.

Episode #167 : The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances

"Are you my mummy?"

Episode 167:   The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances.
Companions:   9th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         21st to 28th May 2005.

Chasing a metallic object through the Time Vortex, the Ninth Doctor and his companion, Rose Tyler, arrive in London during the Blitz. While Rose meets "Captain Jack Harkness", the dashing Time Agent responsible for bringing the object, the Doctor finds a group of homeless children terrorised by Jamie, an "empty" child wearing a gas mask.

I love Doctor Who when it attempts horror, and with the production values of the new series the BBC can do some absolutely fantastic ones. This particular adventure is the first horror themed story of the new series and it is a gem of the first series. What makes it work is the strange psychological reaction we have towards something disturbing that involves children. The repeated cry of "are you my mummy?" certainly sends a chill down the spine.

This adventure introduces Captain Jack Harkness, a former time agent now working as a con man throughout time. He starts off as a criminal type with a heart of gold and grows to be a braver man and future companion. As we know he will eventually go on to lead the remains of the Torchwood institute but for now he is a great new companion, probably my favourite of all the new series companions.

As well as being a scary story, we also get a lot of humour in this one which at last actually begins to feel right. New Who certainly likes to be more amusing than it's classic predecessor. At the time of transmission I found this somewhat odd but have grown to see it as a necessary addition for modern family audiences. But this is the first adventure where it fits perfectly.

The Empty Child episode does not contain a Bad Wolf reference. Instead, it appears in the second part, written in German on the side of a bomb dropped during the air raid.

Episode #162 : The Unquiet Dead

"I saw the Fall of Troy! World War Five! I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party! Now I'm gonna die in a dungeon...  in Cardiff!"

Episode 162:   The Unquiet Dead.
Companions:   9th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         9th April 2005.

The dead are roaming the streets of 1869 Cardiff when the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler arrive, just in time for Christmas. Teaming up with Charles Dickens, the TARDIS team encounter the Gelth, creatures sucked through the Cardiff Rift from the other end of the universe, their home lost. Surely inhabiting dead bodies is wrong, though! Can both sides be helped, or are these gaseous creatures not to be trusted?

The Unquiet Dead is an excellent story that focuses on a horror element to good effect. I've always enjoyed the horror stories in Doctor Who but the new series does it so much better. Here we have a story based featuring Charles Dickens, aliens spirit creatures animating the bodies of the dead and another reference to the Time War. Three episodes in and finally I think the new show has found its new roots with this one.

We get more interaction between the Doctor and Rose as they discuss the morality of allowing these entities to use dead human bodies to continue existing. It is a tough question and is handled well here within the confines of the story. Ultimately however the Doctor continues to come across as a little arrogant here and it is hard to like this incarnation at times.

The Bad Wolf reference here comes from the serving girl Gweneth, who has the psychic gift, who sees into the future for Rose and mentions the big bad wolf. Gweneth is played by Eve Myles who would later appear in Torchwood, which ironically is based around the very time/space rift that the alien Gelth use in this episode. I do wonder whether Torchwood was first thought up around this episode and then much later transferred into it's own show.

The Undead Quiet is a very good episode, of much better quality than the previous two. I don't think there are any faults to this one at all though more of the Gelth might have been interesting.